Roasted Roma Tomatoes

Roma tomatoes were finally available at the farmer’s market this past weekend. Summer has arrived!

Last summer, Ben and I vacationed at a cute little inn in Long Island where the chef cooked us an amazing breakfast every morning. One of the delectable ingredients in his omelets, frittatas, and burritos was these deliciously sweet tomatoes that melted in your mouth. I knew I couldn’t wait an entire year before having more of them, so before we left, I asked him for the recipe. And would you believe he gave it to me along with a little to go package of oven roasted tomatoes!? I died.

As it turns out, it couldn’t be easier if you have a few hours to spare. The secret to these tomatoes, is slow roasting them for a few hours to allow all of that flavor to concentrate. Yum!

If you’re going to make this recipe, I recommend making a large batch as these store well in the freezer and can be used for just about anything. I used 8 roma tomatoes which filled my large sheet tray.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. If the tomatoes are small, halve them. If they’re rather large, like the ones I was using, quarter them.

Place them on a parchment lined jelly roll pan. The juices that escape during the cooking process are worth capturing plus you don’t want to mess up the bottom of your oven as the juices run off during the cooking process.

Give a good drizzle of olive oil, making sure to get each tomato. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Place them in the oven and monitor their progress. You want them to look shriveled and dry and this will take a few hours depending on the size of the romas you’ve selected and how you’ve sliced them. Check on them every half hour to make sure you don’t create sun dried tomatoes accidentally.

After they’ve roasted for about 2-3 hours, remove them from the oven. They should look like the photo below. Allow them to cool and then you can store them in the fridge or freezer. I plan on using mine this week for a pasta dish I’m making. You could also add them to a salad, a breakfast omelet, or whatever you’re making. I can’t stop eating them plain either…they taste like candy.